. . . . I am avoiding studying by doing something else.

In this case, sharing just a few more details from Trier.

To complete yesterday’s theme of bread and circuses, I remembered yesterday that it was the second time I’d spent a birthday in Germany and on both occasions, it involved a theatre. The first German birthday was when I was a University student (the first time around) and I was undertaking the year abroad requirements of a languages student. I spent the second half of that academic year studying at the University of Heidelberg; one of the highlights of that time was taking a module on German theatre for students of German as a second language. Every year, a few lecturers pull together 40 or so willing international students in to a theatre group called IDeFix, and put on a show in the second week of July, for which we all received academic credit, too. My 21st birthday co-incided with dress rehearsal day (and the men’s Wimbledon final – we nicked out at lunchtime to watch a bit). I spent a wonderful 21st in the smallest theatre in Heidelberg – what’s called the Romanischer Keller – a cellar theatre underneath what is now the English department. I was an actress in the show and had, the day or so before, volunteered to be Assistant Stage Manager. The Stage Manager was learning on the job and as one of the few native German speakers, it was important that someone who properly spoke the language did the hard part backstage. I just showed him how to set up props and scene changes when backstage was about 1 metre by 1 metre in size. Wonderful, tiny theatre. There is a photo of my with my feet up at the end of the day. Feet up, in that I’m lying on my back and my feet are propped up on the wall at 90 degrees to my body in order to fit in to the available space.

IDeFix is still going strong – https://www.idefix-theater.de/ – and they are gearing up for this year’s show. I hope it goes well.

Between the gladiator promenade theatre yesterday and a well-spent birthday 17 years ago (ha ha!), theatre and birthdays in Germany are serving me well.

There is another stage to mention. Germany seems to like celebrating the start of Summer; in Hannover before and in Trier this week, there are festivals to celebrate Summer. When we were in Worms a few years ago, there was the Spectaculum, which was a Germanic-Celtic-Mediaeval fête re-enactment thing. For Hannover and Trier this year, both have involved setting up a temporary funfair, food and drink stalls and entertainment somewhere in town. In Hannover, it was the land next to the football stadium (home of Hannover 96 and a proper city-centre stadium). Here in Trier, it is on the banks of the Moselle river very close to where I’m staying, called Moselfest. It’s a treat having something so fun and popular so close. I’ve walked around a few times to take it in – I love the lights and atmosphere of these sorts of events, a bit like fan villages at bit sports events, too. There is a stage where a lot of local bands are playing, with DJ sets in between. The bands have been a real range – from a Red Hot Chilli Peppers covers band, to tonight’s folk band. Sorry for the poor photo:

If you can’t see them, and I’m sorry I didn’t get their name, they are dressed in fairly standard German folk fayre – waistcoats with bobbles, guitars in armpits – add a couple of accordions and guitars, and three singers, and you’re away.

They played, and I swear by the old gods and the new that this is true, a song about Bratwurst to the tune of ‘Those were the days’ as sung by Mary Hopkin.

It. Blew. My. Mind.

I then realised that it was probably a filthy song in some way, so I picked myself up and went into town for ice cream. That worked.

Here is a photo of a view from a boat trip I took earlier and some photos of Roman buildings recycled in to new things:

Trier has felt familiar in a sense. I don’t really know why – I’ve never been here before. It does resemble Heidelberg in a few ways, in that it is in a river valley that you can see a lot of the time you are walking around the town, with steep banks, forest and vineyards on one side. A lot of the building here are Baroque-style, so very like Heidelberg, and arranged on a grid pattern from an earlier Roman and Mediaeval layout. The Moselle river (for Trier) and the Neckar river (for Heidelberg) both carve through the same deep red sandstone that is used in local building, so again, a familiar look. A lot of the stuff I picked up when living here is coming back to me, like shops and brands and the on-going question as to whether jay-walking really is a crime in Germany or an urban myth. I also think it’s because I’ve been back to Germany quite a few times since living in Heidelberg so I think it’s kept a bit of a familiar feeling. It’s a good one.

Tomorrow, Wuppertal and the Schwebebahn. I will be truly getting my train geek on.